Mobile Technology, Society and Culture

Mobile technology:

I. Economic impact and ramifications.

A. Appropriate technology, more of an economics concern, compromises between central and expensive technologies of developed nations and those that developing nations find most effective to deploy given an excess of labor and scarcity of cash.

B. Persuasion technology: the factors that have influenced and contributed to the growth.

C. Growth opportunities for business

II. How mobile technology has influenced culture and transcended the media

A. Cultural dimensions of technology development

B. Globalization of ideas, how this technology has crossed boarders

C. Mobile technology and its influence in social media

I. Economic Impact and Ramifications

Mobile telephony technology has brought about of a new dawn and new possibilities to the African continent and other developing regions. Across the urban wealthy, there is a deep divide between those that are rich and those that are poor. Mobile devices make it possible for individuals to connect with other individuals, information and a use in business and services.

A. Appropriate Technology

The mobile telecommunications industry has grown rapidly over the last three decades representing one of the most intriguing stories of technology diffusion. Since 2002 mobile subscribers have exceeded the number of fixed lines globally. The process to

achieve what fixed phones have been a societal struggle globally for more than 120 years but it has taken less than a fifth of the time for mobile networks. This cross-over time of mobile users has been even shorter for developing countries. At the end of 2009 the number of mobile telecommunications subscribers reached 4.6 billion, which is equivalent to 67 per cent of the world population. This technology is particularly relevant in developing countries, where there are more than twice as many subscriptions (3.2 billion) as in developed countries (1.4 billion).

Statistics from Jagdish Rebello, Phd. (each year is per billion subscriptions)

The importance of the telecommunications sector becomes also evident by comparing the share of telecommunications revenues in GDP: telecommunications services accounted for on average 4.8% of the total GDP of sub-Saharan Africa compared to 3.1% in the European Union. (The Economist, 2008)

Economic impact of mobile technology on developing economies is twice as